The underground training hall was darker than the classroom, crystal light casting shadows, stretched long across the stone floor. The space had been full of machines and strange constructs and contraptions. The air had been thick with an unnatural hum, the hum of energy flowing through the room. I didn’t like it, it felt like the hum in my chest was all around me.


    The cadets had been scattered around the hall, each of us assigned to a different task. I had no hope the second part of the day would be easier, the weight of the gauntlet on my arm seemed even heavier then it had just been. The fear of failure came back with a vengeance when I saw my new ‘test’.


    I walked to the centre of the hall, where a large machine sat waiting. This had been designed to test both precision and power I was told. My task had been to synchronise with it, sending energy through a series of conduits. And that was all. But the moment I had placed my hand on the activation plate, I had felt the gauntlet stir.


    I glanced across the room at Maren, who had already connected to her machine, effortlessly guiding it with grace and ease. It floated gently of the floor. Kellan, standing beside me, had seemed to be struggling just as much as I had earlier, save Maren’s commentary. But was focused on the task at hand. He was to power a slightly smaller device and make it float if he had adequate control of its power input.


    Just a little power I thought. Just a little control, I can do this.


    I nodded, but my hand trembled as I activated the gauntlet. The crystal at its centre flared to life, pulsing, tingling. At first it had been steady. The machine had begun to hum in response, and I had felt a brief moment of relief. Maybe this time, I could do it.


    But that brief moment of calm shattered. The power inside the gauntlet surged, wild and uncontrollable. My heart had leapt into my throat as the energy had spiralled out of control, my chest tightening, fingers burning, everything thrumming and before I had known it, the machine had lurched, screeching as it had been overloaded.


    “Stop! Stop!” Professor Morgan shouted, but it had been too late. I saw true fear on his face then as he saw every vein or spot of crystal on my contraption shine like the stars in the dim.


    The hum in my chest I was certain was audible to everyone at this point and pain lanced through me.


    A violent explosion of energy ripped through the room, sending pieces of crystal and metal flying in every direction. The force of the blast sent cadets tumbling to the ground, the air filled with the sharp scent of burning. The floor, scorched stone. Smaller contraptions were mute, fried and some lightly smoking in front of cadets with their ears covered. A piece of my device had careened to where Kellan stood. He cried out as it hit him in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground. There was blood.


    I stood frozen, my chest heaving with panic. The gauntlet still thrumming violently on my arm, as though it had been angry. Around me, cadets had scrambled to regain their footing, some clutching their arms or their heads where they had been hit. Maren of course had dodged or escaped unscathed.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Kellan was groaning on the floor, officer Morgan rushing to me then, in quick manner clicked my key out and ripped the gauntlet off my hand and arm, an arc flared from my fingertips burning him. He had no time to stop for surprise, he went down on a knee beside Kellan, his side was bloody, his face pale, his hands shaking. He passed out from the shock a little later, oddly only when he saw Morgan had control of the situation.


    Only after class was dismissed and Kellan had been carried out, was I left alone with officer Morgan. He had given everyone else a pass on the tests irrespective of actual results.


    Maren had wanted to stay, but was refused.


    “What happened?” He asked me.


    “Does it matter? Shouldn’t you just send me out the gate?”


    “I should, but I have never seen anything like it, it’s out of my hands at this point.”


    “Cadet Sari, you are to pack your things, leave them at the foot of your bed and report to officer Victor, he will be going over the details with the higher officers in preparation for your… explanation.”


    “The military counsels will decide your fate, before the sun sets on the gate”


    I was sure he said that last part to indicate what he thought the result would be.


    He turned and walked off. Leaving me alone in the carnage and the smoke.


    I laughed a silly little laugh then, in the dark, that oppressive room and the smoke, it almost reminded me of home. I felt the need to get outside.


    It was only in the midday sun, having a quick pipe to think and settle my nerves that I realised I was also unhurt. No one had thought to check, I hadn’t thought to check, even though my hand had literally been touching the stupid mechanism that blew half my class to the floor.


    My silver haired commander came prowling round the corner of the building then,


    “Well, you look better than the boys at the medica, sturdy stuff,… are you ready?”


    “For my hearing? No, I need to pack first”


    I offered him my tin of tobacco. He took it graciously.


    “A good by gift” I said. “Why did you stamp my papers?” I asked suddenly. Some answers I could get before I went out the gate.


    “Don’t you know?” He took out his stamp and showed it to me, the same spiralling design as my father’s crest.


    “That mark is from the first war, too early for those young officers to know, whoever marked your papers, marked it with the same as mine. They needed to see it, see mine to understand, and save themselves the embarrassment, should they have another new recruit with the same. It could not have been acquired by chance or theft or any other way, than by rights. Such marks go from father to son, they are never buried, never lost and if the family perishes, they are melted down. It is an old mark.”


    ”No one would buy such a thing and only a fool would think to use it under false pretences. The law regarding such things are still held firm, a pilots legacy is never tainted, lest you find yourself hung by the neck and buried in an unmarked grave or your body slung out to sea.”


    He handed the tin back to me.


    “save me a pinch for after the hearing, it’s early yet.”